Method of forming tubular car-axles



D. A. CLARK.

METHOD OF FORMING TUBULAR CAR AXLES APPLICATION F ED JAN 6 19191,366,717. Patented Jan 25,1921.

Qwvmtoz Quin-nu,

DAVID A. CLARK, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

METHOD OF FORMING TUBULAR GAR-AXLES.

Application filed January 6, 1919.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, DAVID A. CLARK, a citizen of the United Eitates,residing at Baltimore, tate of lllaryland, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Methods of Forming Tubular Car-Axles, of whichthe following is a specificatiton.

This invention relates to the art of metal rolling, and is based uponthe discovery I have made that'tubular car axles can be very quickly andcheaply formed by rolling a pierced or tubular billet along a curved orstraight pass between a bed or die and rollers operating with the bed tocompress the billet interposed between the rollers and the bed from aplurality of points equidistant from each other and radially inwardtoward the center of the billet, without the use of any mandrel or anyelement at all inside of the billet itself, the opening through thepierced or tubular billet being left entirely free and unobstructedwhereby the finished article will be entirely without deformations orweak points and the original density of the walls of the billet will bemain tained.

In carrying out my method, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth,I may use a machine such as that disclosed by Letters Patent of theUnited States No. 1,212,325, which was issued to me on January 16,

, 1917, and in which a billet is designed to be treated in a curved passbetween a concave die or bed and work supporting rollers journaled in oron a revoluble carrier mounted in spaced relation to the concave, orinstead of the concave bed being like that illustrated in this patent,it may be fiat and the pierced billet rolled therealong and compressedbetween the bed and rollers carried by a carriage movable along a fixedplane, but in either event no mandrel is used and the axles are formedcomplete and perfect solely by the compressive action of the rollerswhich continuously rotate in contact with the billet, the latter beingcontinually rolled along the bed and between the latter and the rollersand not allowed to slip or drag at any point in its traverse, thispreclusion of any slipping or dragging action, in combination with theoperation of the continuously moving rollers, constituting the methodwhereby the tubular axles are formed from pierced or tubular billetswithout the use of any mandrels, and manifestly Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented Jan. 25, 1921.

Serial No. 269,862.

without the inconvenience and expense incidental to such use.

I? or the purposes of illustration, I show in the accompanying drawing atransverse sectional view of a machine corresponding to the one of mypatent hereinbefore mentioned, a pierced billet, and a tubular axleformed from said billet, and in the drawing Figure 1 represents atransverse sectional view of the machine above mentioned, and Fig. 2illustrates a longitudinal sectional view of the billet and the axleformed therefrom.

In the drawing, the different parts are designated by referencecharacters corresponding to those used in describing and illustratingthe machine in the Patent No. 1,212,325, but I deem it unnecessary todescribe all of the different parts in detail so far as this presentspecification is concerned, as this invention relates to a method and isnot necessarily confined to the machine above mentioned. I might add inthis connection that the method herein described and claimed was notclaimed in the patent above enumerated as it is considered to be aninvention divisible from the invention of said patent and capable ofbeing claimed only separately therefrom.

In carrying out my method of forming tubular axles from pierced billetswithout the use of mandrels the billet 9 is treated in a pass between abed 2 and rollers 8 of which there may be any desired number (two in thepresent instance), and these rollers are :journa-led to continuouslyrotate around their longitudinal axes, and are carried by a carriage 5which, like the rollers, is continuously in motion. In the presentembodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing, itwill be understood that the carriage 5 rotates about its ownlongitudinal axis, whereby as will be manifest, the billet 9 is not onlycompressed toward its center from its exterior at a plurality of contactpoints, to wit, the rollers 8 and bed 2, but is kept continuouslyrolling or turning and is not permitted to rest while it is beingtreated or to slip or drag in the process. This forms the basis of mypresent invention, and I have discovered that by carrying out thismethod, tubular car axles like those shown in Fig. 2 of the accompanyingdrawing, can be quickly, cheaply and efiiciently made with- Cir out theuse of mandrels Which is the object of the invention. 7

While this method is primarily designed for use in forming tubular caraxles, it is to be understood that the inventionis not limited to thisuse, but is also applicable for use in forming other tubular metalarticles of different diameters and shapes out of tubular or piercedbillets and the like.

I claim:

'The herein-described method of forming tubular car axles, whichconsists in taking a tubular billet and compressing said billet from itsexterior inwardly toward its center between a bed and a plurality ofcontinuously rotating rollers the points of contact of the bed androllers With the exterior of the billet being equidistant, the rollersbeingmoved along the bed as Well as rotating about their longitudinalaxes whereby the billet itself will be continuously rolled DAVID A.CLARK,

